Local News

A North Newton High School teacher is on administrative leave while the school district investigates a case from earlier this month.

School Corporation Superintendent Destin Haas reports math teacher Kari Smundin was placed on administrative leave October 5. Haas said the school was made aware of a situation that allegedly occurred a day earlier on October 4.

A 13-year-old student is the subject of an alleged bullying episode in a classroom setting..Haas would not provide much detail about the situation that allegedly occurred. The school is continuing to investigate.

Transportation funding isn’t flowing in Illinois. And it’s forcing transit districts to cut back and, in some cases, even eliminate services in metro areas.

River Valley METRO – the mass transit district serving the greater Kankakee area –is included. The agency has announced a temporary service reduction and staff assignments, effective November 1.

Illinois Senator Jason Barickman is hopeful the funding crisis will be resolved soon. He says “this is the result of the no-budget situation in Springfield,” and why –he hopes—people are paying attention ..........

Barickman said this is what happens when there isn’t a budget in place.

The Senator said so many government agencies have been strapped, because the state has no money. This, Barickman explained, “is the reality of not having a balanced budget. There’s supposed to be designated monies available but it’s not there.”

Barickman and other lawmakers are well aware of the transportation dilemma.

Downstate districts, including Kankakee, Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, Springfield, Danville and the Quad Cities are all forced to make emergency plans or even close down.

River Valley METRO Manager Rob Hoffman said his Board of Directors has explored options and made a decision (Wednesday) to scale-back its services......

The effort is to stretch funding resources to try to make it work thru Decemver 31.

Eric Hyatt has been named named Gibson City’s new police chief. He’s a current member of the department, serving as a Lieutenant.

Hyatt replaces Steve Cushman, who retired last weekHyatt has been in law enforcement for 16 years. He’s a native of Colfax. Hyatt has been with the Gibson City department for 10 years. He spent the first six years of his career with the Fairbury Police Department.

Mayor Dan Dickey said Hyatt was his obvious choice to lead the police department. The appointment was made at Monday’s city council meeting.

Paxton Police Chief Bob Bane is taking legal action against the city that employs him, its mayor and its comptroller/treasurer. He claims the city owes him nearly $7,000 in overtime pay.

Bane filed a small-claims complaint this week in Ford County Circuit Court. The complaint, according to the News-Gazette, states the city has refused to pay him for overtime he accumulated by attending city council meetings and various committees over a nine-year period.

Bane said he is owed $6,848 for meetings he attended between May 2006 and August 2015.

The Robinson Engineering firm will conduct a study to find solutions to a drainage problem in the Loveridge Lane sub-division in Watseka. The Watseka City Council (Tuesday) voted 8-0 to allow engineers to spend no more than $24,000 to look into local concerns.

Flooding in the sub-division, near the Iroquois County Courthouse, has been a concern among residents there. The ponding has gotten worse in recent years, according to neighbors. The nearby T.P. & W. Railroad has also made efforts to clean up a ditch.